With the growing need for licensed mental healthcare workers in the Texas Panhandle, West Texas A&M University steps up to the plate by creating a new Master’s of Psychology degree program for WTAMU psychology majors.

Starting in the fall 2021 semester, this new psychology degree program will help students with becoming licensed psychological associates and will be a total 60 credit hours. West Texas A&M University already had several psychology degree programs to choose from, but there was a need for this new master’s degree program that is geared towards meeting the licensure for licensed psychology associates. Students who are interested in this program must have already completed a bachelor’s degree program in psychology or an alternative degree that is equal to a bachelor’s in psychology.

A press release published by the university mentions,“The program is designed to be completed in three years. The last two semesters include a practicum, where students are placed at an organization, agency or private practice to gain hands-on experiences with psychological work,” said Chip Chandler, senior communications specialist.

There has been a growing need for assessing individuals with mental health issues in the Panhandle area, and there has been a lack of licensed health professionals to do these assessments. This new psychology degree program will help students provide individual therapy, group therapy and assessments. Examples of these types of assessments students will be able to provide once they complete the degree program are assessments for ADHD, learning disorders and autism spectrum disorders.

Dr. Mun Yein assistant professor of psychology said, “We have created and developed this new program to help meet the demand for psychological and behavioral services in the panhandle area. Very specifically, we know that there’s a lot of demand for psychological assessment. But we do not have enough mental health professionals that are able to provide this very specific kind of service.”

Psychology students at WTAMU will now have the option of taking this new psychology degree program directed towards specific mental health needs that have arisen in the Panhandle Area. WTAMU has made it possible for psychology students to be more than prepared when it comes to entering the workforce in the field of psychology, and this new degree plan has become a vital addition in training WTAMU psychology students.

“In my best Chandler Bing voice: “could I be any more excited?”. In all seriousness though, I think it is a significant addition to WT’s line-up. We are so very fortunate to have this available to us,” said senior psychology major, Cristina Brice

West Texas A&M University has added this new degree program to its psychology degree line-up in hopes that it will help with the need for licensed psychology associates in our area and students will now have more options when it comes to deciding which psychology degree program they would like to enroll in.